The Hibbert Lectures are an annual series of non-sectarian lectures on theological issues. They are sponsored by the

Hibbert Trust The Hibbert Trust is a foundation associated with British Unitarianism from its inception in 1853. It was founded by Robert Hibbert (1769–1849) and originally designated the Anti-Trinitarian Fund. It awards scholarships and fellowships, supports ...

, which was founded in 1847 by the Unitarian Robert Hibbert with a goal to uphold "the unfettered exercise of private judgement in matters of religion.". In recent years the lectures have been broadcast by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Lecturers (incomplete list)

1878-1894 (First Series)

*1878

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born British comparative philologist and oriental studies, Orientalist. He was one of the founders of the Western academic disciplines of Indology and religious s ...

''On the Religions of India'' (inaugural) *1879

Peter le Page Renouf Sir Peter le Page Renouf (23 August 1822 – 14 October 1897) was a British professor, Egyptologist, and museum director, best known for his translation of '' The Book of the Dead''. Personal life Renouf was born in Guernsey on the Channel Is ...

'' The Religion of the Egyptians'' *1880

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; ; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, writing on Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote wo ...

''Lectures on the Influence of the Institutions, Thought And Culture of Rome on Christianity And the Development of the Catholic Church'' *1881

T. W. Rhys Davids Thomas William Rhys Davids (12 May 1843 – 27 December 1922) was a Welsh scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pāli Text Society. He took an active part in founding the British Academy and London School for Oriental Studies. Ea ...

''Indian Buddhism'' *1882

Abraham Kuenen Abraham Kuenen (16 September 1828 – 10 December 1891) was a Dutch Protestant theologian. Kuenen was born in Haarlem, the son of an apothecary. On his father's death it became necessary for him to leave school and take a humble place in the busi ...

''National Religions and Universal Religion'' *1883 Charles Beard ''The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century in its Relation to Modern Thought and Knowledge'' *1884 Albert Reville '' The Native Religions of Mexico and Peru'' *1885

Otto Pfleiderer Otto Pfleiderer (; 1 September 1839 – 18 July 1908) was a German Protestant theologian. Through his writings and his lectures, he became known as one of the most influential representatives of liberal theology. Biography Pfleiderer was born at ...

''The Influence of the Apostle Paul on the Development of Christianity'' *1886

John Rhys John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

'' Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by Celtic heathendom'' *1887

Archibald Sayce Archibald Henry Sayce (25 September 18454 February 1933) was a pioneer British Assyriologist and linguist, who held a chair as Professor of Assyriology at the University of Oxford from 1891 to 1919. He was able to write in at least twenty anci ...

''Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians'' *1888

Edwin Hatch Edwin Warren Hatch (4 September 1835 Derby, England – 10 November 1889 Oxford, England) was an English theologian. He is best known as the author of the book '' Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church'', which was based ...

''Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church'' *1891 Eugene, Count Goblet D'Alviella ''Lectures on the Origin and Growth of the Concept of God, as Illustrated by Anthropology and History'' ''...so well known as a freethinker that when he was invited the Hibbert Lectures at Oxford, the authorities of Balliol College refused the use of a room for the purpose

/ref> *1892

Claude Montefiore Claude Joseph Goldsmid Montefiore, also Goldsmid–Montefiore or just Goldsmid Montefiore (1858–1938) was the intellectual founder of Anglo-Liberal Judaism (UK), Liberal Judaism and the founding president of the World Union for Progress ...

''The Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews'' *1893

Charles Barnes Upton Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

''Lectures on the bases of religious belief'' *1894 James Drummond ''Via, Veritas, Vita; Christianity in its most simple and intelligible form''

1900-1949

*1906

Franz Cumont __NOTOC__ Franz-Valéry-Marie Cumont (3 January 1868 in Aalst, Belgium – 20 August 1947 in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre near Brussels) was a Belgian archaeologist and historian, a philologist and student of epigraphy, who brought these often isolated ...

(on Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism) *1908

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...

''A Pluralistic Universe'' *1911

Lewis Richard Farnell Lewis Richard Farnell FBA (1856–1934) was a classical scholar and Oxford academic, where he served as vice-chancellor from 1920 to 1923. George Stanley Farnell in the inscription of the 1896 edition of the first volume of the first edition of ...

''The Higher Aspects of Greek Religion'' *1912

James Hope Moulton The Reverend James Hope Moulton (11 October 1863 – 9 April 1917) was a British non-conformist divine. He was also a philologist and made a special study of Zoroastrianism. Biography His family had a strong Methodist background. His father was ...

''Early Zoroastrianism'' *1913

Josiah Royce Josiah Royce (; November 20, 1855 – September 14, 1916) was an American Pragmatism, pragmatist and objective idealism, objective idealist philosopher and the founder of American idealism. His philosophical ideas included his joining of pragmatis ...

''The Problem of Christianity''
online edition (volume one)
*1913

David Samuel Margoliouth David Samuel Margoliouth, FBA (; 17 October 1858, in London – 22 March 1940, in London) was an English orientalist. He was briefly active as a priest in the Church of England. He was Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford ...

''The Early Development of Mohammedanism'' *1914 Herbert A. Giles ''Confucianism and Its Rivals'' *1916

Louis de La Vallée-Poussin Louis Étienne Joseph Marie de La Vallée-Poussin (1 January 1869 – 18 February 1938) was a Belgian Indologist and scholar of Buddhist Studies. Biography La Vallée-Poussin was born in Liège, where he received his early education. He studie ...

''The Way to Nirvána: Ancient Buddhism as a Discipline of Salvation'' *1916 Philip H. Wicksteed ''The reactions between dogma & philosophy illustrated from the works of S. Thomas Aquinas'' *1919 Joseph Estlin Carpenter ''Theism in Medieval India'' *1920

William Ralph Inge William Ralph Inge (; 6 June 1860 – 26 February 1954) was an English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and dean of St Paul's Cathedral. Although as an author he used W. R. Inge, and he was personally known ...

"The State, Visible and Invisible" *1921

James Moffatt James Moffatt (4 July 1870, Glasgow – 27 June 1944, New York City) was a Scottish theologian and graduate of the University of Glasgow. Moffatt trained at the Free Church College, Glasgow, and was a practising minister at the United Free Ch ...

''The Approach to the New Testament'' *1922

Lawrence Pearsall Jacks Lawrence Pearsall Jacks (9 October 1860 – 17 February 1955), abbreviated L. P. Jacks, was an English educator, philosopher, and Unitarian minister who rose to prominence in the period from World War I to World War II. Early life Jacks was bo ...

''Religious Perplexities'' *1923 Felix Adler ''The Reconstruction of the Spiritual Ideal'' *1924 Lawrence Pearsall Jacks ''Human consciousness towards God'' *1925

Francis Greenwood Peabody Francis Greenwood Peabody (1847–1936) was an American Unitarian minister and theology professor at Harvard University. Peabody was born on December 4, 1847, in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1869. When a junior ...

*1929

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 188817 April 1975; natively Radhakrishna) was an Indian academician, philosopher and statesman who served as the President of India from 1962 to 1967. He previously served as the vice president of ...

''An Idealist View of Life'' *1930

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

''The Religion of Man'' *1931 George Dawes Hicks ''The Philosophical Bases of Theism'' *1932

Robert Seymour Conway Robert Seymour Conway Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (20 September 1864 – 28 September 1933) was a British classical scholar and comparative philologist. Born in Stoke Newington, he was the elder brother of Katharine Glasier, Katharine St ...

''Ancient Italy and Modern Religion'' *1933 Lawrence Pearsall Jacks ''The Revolt Against Mechanism'' *1934

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, ...

''Religion in Modern Civilization'' *1936

William Ernest Hocking William Ernest Hocking (August 10, 1873 – June 12, 1966) was an American idealist philosopher at Harvard University. He continued the work of his philosophical teacher Josiah Royce (the founder of American idealism) in revising idealism to int ...

''Living Religions and a World Faith'' *1937

Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greec ...

''Liberality and Civilisation''

1950-1999

*1959 Basil Willey ''Darwin And Butler: Two Versions of Evolution'' *1963

James Luther Adams James Luther Adams (November 12, 1901 – July 26, 1994), an American professor at Harvard Divinity School, Andover Newton Theological School, and Meadville Lombard Theological School, and a Unitarian parish minister, was the most influential t ...

*1964

Geoffrey Nuttall Geoffrey Fillingham Nuttall (8 November 1911 – 24 July 2007) was a British Congregational minister and ecclesiastical historian. Nuttall was born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, the son of the general practitioner. He was educated at Bootham S ...

, Roger Thomas,

Roy Drummond Whitehorn Roy or Roi is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origins. France In France, this family name originated from the Normans, the descendants of Norse Vikings who migrated to Amigny, a commune in Manche, Normandy.. The deriva ...

, Harry Lismer Short, ''The Beginnings of Nonconformity'' *1965 Frederick Hadaway Hilliard ''Christianity in education'' *1977

Jonathon Porritt Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt, 2nd Baronet, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 6 July 1950) is a British environmentalist and writer. He is known for his advocacy of the Green Party of England and Wales. Porritt frequently contributes to ma ...

, ''Bringing Religion Down to Earth'' *1979

Rustum Roy Rustum Roy (July 3, 1924 – August 26, 2010) was a physicist, born in India, who became a professor at Pennsylvania State University and was a leader in materials research. As an advocate for interdisciplinarity, he initiated a movement of mater ...

''Experimenting with Truth'' *1989

Bede Griffiths Bede Griffiths OSB Cam (17 December 1906 – 13 May 1993), born Alan Richard Griffiths and also known by the end of his life as Swami Dayananda ("bliss of compassion"), was a British Catholic priest and Benedictine monk who lived in ashrams i ...

, ''Christianity in the Light of the East''

2000-

*2003 James L. Cox ''Religion without God: Methodological Agnosticism and the Future of Religious Studies'' *2005

Karen Armstrong Karen Armstrong (born 14 November 1944) is a British author and commentator known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and Christian mysticism, mystical ...

and Khalid Hameed ''Spirituality and global citizenship''

Notes

{{reflist British lecture series Religious education in the United Kingdom Unitarianism in the United Kingdom Recurring events established in 1878 1878 establishments in the United Kingdom